Episode 63: Better Angels of Our Nature

Angels are an intriguing idea. They’re ethereal beings who are like us, but maybe, just a little better than we are. They have our best interests at heart, they have wings, and they have a direct line to the supernatural, or the divine, or the universal forces beyond our control. So, that’s cool, but perhaps we’ve missed a step. What, pray tell, is an angel, exactly? Join us on this romp through the wilds of history, as we search for the answer to this seemingly simple question. From fierce, fiery warriors with four faces, to chubby winged-baby putti, there are a lot of different ways to understand the amorphous idea of the angel. We’ll examine angel symbolism and iconography in art through the ages, and discuss the origins of belief in guardian angels, specifically. We’ll also analyze the story of the Angel of Mons, a battlefield apparition that occurred during the Great War; its historical origins, and the incredible rapidity of its spread. We conclude with a discussion of the protective, guardian alter that sometimes appears in cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

3 thoughts on “Episode 63: Better Angels of Our Nature”

Another great episode!!
I was little disappointed when Sam did not do the ‘mean girl version history regarding the battle of Mon’! I really enjoyed when you summarized WW2 that way before, so I hoped you would do that again! (I am not joking) lol. Other than that I loved the show 😀
It was very interesting episode, thank you for another fabulous story!
P.S, Could you please tell me how to embed your beautiful artworks for each episodes into each podcast mp3 files as an album art?

Thanks so much! Im sure there will be many more mean girl summaries to come. I figured out how to upload the image on the Blog Talk Radio player, but unfortunately Itunes doesnt have that feature. Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll do that from now on.